Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, has called on Nigerians to hold President Bola Tinubu to his own campaign pledge by voting him out in the next election due to the country’s declining power generation and rising electricity tariffs.
The Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has formally called on Nigerians to deny President Bola Tinubu a second term, invoking the President’s own campaign ultimatum regarding the nation’s electricity supply. In a detailed statement released on his X account on Saturday, April 4, 2026, Obi reminded the electorate of a specific pledge made by Tinubu during the 2023 election cycle. “If I don’t give you constant electricity in four years, don’t vote for me for a second term,” Obi quoted the President as saying. The former Anambra State Governor argued that because the administration has failed to meet this self-imposed benchmark, Nigerians are duty-bound to hold the President accountable to his word at the next polls.
Obi provided a scathing assessment of the power sector’s performance over the last three years, noting that electricity generation has actually regressed since the current administration took office. He pointed out that when Tinubu assumed the presidency in 2023, Nigeria maintained a power supply of over 4,000 megawatts with significantly lower tariffs. “Today, the electricity power supply is less than 4,000 megawatts on the average, and Nigerians are paying higher tariffs,” Obi noted, describing the current trajectory as “a glaring display of disregard for promises and a lack of trust.” He further highlighted the widening gap between Nigeria and the rest of the continent, citing data that places Nigeria’s per capita electricity consumption at a mere 144 kilowatt-hours (kWh), compared to the African average of 617 kWh.
The opposition leader emphasized that the failure to improve the energy infrastructure has dire implications for Nigeria’s economic productivity and the daily lives of its citizens. By linking the President’s past rhetoric to the current reality of frequent grid collapses and increased financial burdens on consumers, Obi framed the upcoming election as a test of political integrity. He urged Nigerians to move beyond partisan loyalty and focus on the tangible delivery of essential services, asserting that a leadership that fails to honor its primary developmental commitments does not deserve a renewal of its mandate. As of Saturday afternoon, the Presidency has yet to issue a formal rebuttal to Obi’s specific data points on the decline of the national grid.